South Korea wants to put endangered species in gigantic bubbles

Yeongyang County is a remote, mountainous, and relatively untouched area that’ll soon be home to South Korea’s National Research Center for Endangered Species. And if designs by Seoul firm Samoo Architects & Engineers (SAMOO) are implemented, bubbly biodomes will play a major role.

SAMOO

As part of the 172,000-square-foot center, the biodomes will house research areas and indoor/outdoor breeding facilities. We all know what that’s code for: plenty of romantic, candle-lit spots for endangered animals to bone and make adorable babies. (Hands off the slow lorises, Lady Gaga.)

SAMOO

The center will also include offices, a quarantine area, a visitors’ center, and lodging for visitors and researchers. The whole place is supposed to “blend harmoniously within the surrounding environment,” but to borrow Fox Mulder’s words, the biodomes look more like giant Jiffy-Pop poppers. Whatever you need to tell yourself, South Korea!